Compliance and legality in Visma Addo

This article will illustrate how valid and recognised digital signatures are. In Visma Addo we are compliant with legal requirements.

Legal effect of digital signatures

Digital signatures use a certificate-based digital ID to authenticate signer identity and demonstrate proof of signing by binding each signature to the document with encryption.

A digital signature is as legally binding and valid as a traditional signed physical paper. The eIDAS regulation Art.25 contains a decisive ban on discrimination against agreements concluded digitally. In other words, it is contrary to the law if you, as an enterprise or authority, refuse to accept or recognize contractual documents solely on the grounds that they are digitally signed.

Regulatory framework

Digital signatures are legal, trusted and enforceable in nearly every industrialized nation around the globe and are actively in use in Europe. Visma Addo supports a vast majority of legal requirements for members of EU as well as Norway.

European Union

In the EU, the Electronic Identification and Reliance Service Regulation for Electronic Transactions in the Internal Market (eIDAS Regulation) took effect in July 2016, establishing a consistent legal framework for the recognition of electronic signatures across the entire EU. eIDAS makes any type of e-signature legal and enforceable, but only qualified electronic signatures hold the same status as a signature placed with ink on paper. Visma Addo’s digital signatures are soon to be compliant with eIDAS technical standards for electronic signatures. Learn more about eIDAS here.

Scandinavia

Visma Addo supports national digital certificate-based signatures with Norwegian BankID & Mobile BankID, Swedish BankID and Danish NemID and complies with the regulatory requirements on Advanced Electronic Signatures in Denmark and Sweden, and on Qualified Electronic Signatures in Norway. BankID is certified at the highest public authentication and non-repudiation level for electronic IDs in Norway (level 4).

Denmark and Sweden, members of the EU, follow the eIDAS regulation regarding the legal effect of electronic signature. Norway follows the Act on implementation of the EU regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (the Act on Electronic Trust Services), which implements the eIDAS in Norway. Read more about Norwegian Act on Electronic Trust Services here.

Other European countries

Visma Addo has customers from all over Europe, we help you to comply with regional and industry regulatory requirements. Every time introduce our digital signature solution to a new country, we make sure we are compliant with local laws, legal standards and regulatory requirements.